Alfred storms to first sub-22s of the season as Jefferson stuns Thompson-Herah

Julien Alfred's incredible start to the season continued at the Tom Jones Invitational, storming to a brilliant Personal Best (PB) of 21.91s to win the college women's 200m event and kick-start her outdoor season.

After some relay performances to open her outdoor campaign, the 21-year-old improved her previous PB of 22.46 set last May, taking it to 21.91s in her first individual race of the season, which stands as a St. Lucian Record.

In second place was McKenzie Long, also with a PB of 22.31s, while Alfred’s Texas teammate Rhasidat Adeleke improved her Irish record to 22.34s for third place.

Alfred picked up from where she left off following an indoor season that included PBs of 6.94s for the 60m and 22.01s in the 200m set at the NCAA Indoor Championships for the best-ever one-day indoor sprints double. The 6.94s places her joint second on the world indoor 60m all-time list.

Two-time world 200m champion Noah Lyles ran 20.16 (-1.2m/s) to begin his 200m season on a winning note at the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Florida, on Friday (14).

Meanwhile, in one of the collegiate races, Alabama’s Tarsis Orogot from Uganda ran a massive wind-assisted 19.60s (2.9m/s) for victory.

US 100m champion Melissa Jefferson stunned Olympic 200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah to win the women's 200m event at Tom Jones Invitational on Friday.

Jefferson ran 23.02 (1.8m/s) ahead of the five-time Olympic gold medallist, who clocked 23.23s.